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Corruption
that Causes Conflict Everywhere
The hadiths above mention a steadily expanding
fitna that continues for extended periods
of time. The term fitna also means "war,
disorder, quarrel, dispute," as mentioned
earlier. As we know, these events often
spread far beyond the points where they
begin, as expressed by the narrated hadith.
This was especially true of the twentieth
century, which is remembered as "the century
of wars." As for the twenty-first century,
it again started off with war and terror,
both of which remain common features all
over the world.
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(1)
191 Million People Died in Wars
(Zaman, October 4, 2002)
(2)
Century Started with War, Ended
With War (Cumhuriyet, January
3, 2000)
(3) Hopes For the New Century
(Milli Gazete, December 22,
2000)
(4)
World Choked in Flames and Tears
( Cumhuriyet, July 16, 2001)
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About 180 million
people lost their lives during the wars
of the twentieth century. This is certainly
a record in the annals of human history.
According to historians, 165 wars and confrontations
took place, each causing the death of a
minimum 6,000 people.10
When we analyze the places where wars
of all kinds have taken place in just the
last 25 years, we can see that such instances
of corruption end in one place but then
reemerge in another. For example, consider
the following partial list of areas so affected:
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Albania, Iran,
Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Palestine,
Israel, North Korea, Cambodia, Eastern Turkestan,
Ethiopia, Somalia, Yemen, Uganda, Algeria,
Rwanda, Mozambique, Angola, Congo, Liberia,
Burundi, Sudan, Lebanon, Argentina, Northern
Ireland, El Salvador, and Nicaragua.
World history is full of war, but the wars,
terrorist acts, and massacres that took
place in the twentieth century and in the
beginning of twenty-first century differ
from all previous ones in many respects.
As mentioned earlier, their death tolls
were much higher than the total of all previous
wars. In addition, wars used to remain regional
and contained, as opposed to spreading from
one place to another, and sometimes even
becoming global in nature. However, by the
beginning of the twentieth century, we saw
the first truly global war. Virtually no
country or region escaped war, confrontation,
or an act of terror during the twentieth
century.
Another distinguishing feature is the
power of the weaponry used: tanks, heavy
cannons, and aircraft are all death machines
that appeared in the twentieth century.
On the other hand, far more terrible massacres
were carried out through the use of nuclear
and chemical weapons, especially with the
atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Immense damage was inflicted not only upon
those generations caught up in these wars,
but also the one or more new generations
that followed.
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(Left)
Dirty War Methods (Evrensel,
October 2, 2001)
(Right) Anthrax Spreads (Akit,
October 15, 2001)
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Presently, biological
warfare is seen as one of the most serious
dangers. The anthrax bacteria mailed during
October 2001, immediately after 9/11 in
America, is one example of this. This mailing
infected ten people with anthrax; two of
them died.11
As a result, it is highly probable that
the specific incidence of corruption (fitna)
referred to in the hadith as spreading to
many places relates to the war, confrontation,
disorder, and acts of terror, all of which
multiplied in the twentieth century and
continue even in this new century. All of
this may just be yet another sign of the
approaching Golden Age that will be established
by the Mahdi and Prophet Jesus (pbuh), and
that we are living at the end of time.
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(1)
Biological Weapon Fear in USA
( Zaman, October 10, 2001)
(2) The Atomic Bomb’ of
the Poor ( Milliyet, September
19, 2001)
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10. "Wars, Massacres, and Atrocities of
the Twentieth Century," November 1999. Online
at: http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/war-1900.htm.
11. Bilim ve Teknik (Science and Technology
Magazine) (December 2001), 34.
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